Reduced pressure 454 Casull loads

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Marine24

Bearcat
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Oct 8, 2010
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74
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Monument, CO
Looking for reduced pressure 454 Casull loads for my Alaskan and SRH.

Bullet is a Cast Performance 360gr hard cast.

For my heavy 45 Colt loads, I typically run 22gr of H110 with a 325gr Cast performance Hard Cast bullet. Looks like I can use this same recipe for my 454 Casull loads with the heavier bullet according to the Hodgdon Reloading Center and go up as high as 24 gr of H110.

Would the felt recoil of the same recipe be different if fired in a 45 Colt round or 454 Casull?

Are pressures inherently different between the two rounds even if the amount of powder is the same?
 

steve b

Single-Sixer
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Apr 20, 2010
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N.E. Ohio
Using same recipe, the larger case with more volume, will have lower pressure, velocity and recoil. steve b
 

Yosemite Sam

Hunter
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Also note that H110 is one of the few powders that usually has a "do not reduce below minimum" warning on the loads. Given the lower pressure in the larger case, I would be very careful using anywhere near the minimum for a .45 Colt load in the .454 case.

-- Sam
 

Marine24

Bearcat
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Oct 8, 2010
Messages
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Monument, CO
Steve/Sam: Thanks. Agree that you would expect reduced pressure, velocity and recoil, but found something interesting on Hodgdon's website that I can't explain:

Extract from the Hodgdon Reloading Center reveals some interesting results:

With a 360gr Cast Performance LFN-GC bullet, 21gr of H110 delivers velocity of 1265fps with 24,000 CUP in a 454 Casull.

Same load in a 45 Colt, delivers 1151fps and 28,300 CUP.

Velocity is greater in the 454 Casull load but with reduced pressure.

Not sure if using a heavy for caliber bullet adversely affects the velocity in a 45 Colt load, but not what I would expect.
 

Marine24

Bearcat
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Oct 8, 2010
Messages
74
Location
Monument, CO
Yosemite Sam said:
Also note that H110 is one of the few powders that usually has a "do not reduce below minimum" warning on the loads. Given the lower pressure in the larger case, I would be very careful using anywhere near the minimum for a .45 Colt load in the .454 case.

-- Sam

Sam: Agree with you. Wasn't my intent to use a 45 Colt recipe in a 454 Casull but noticed there were a couple of loads where the max load on a 45 Colt was the starting load for the 454 Casull.
 

Quarterbore

Blackhawk
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Mar 9, 2008
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Valley Forge PA
I have been using Trail Boss when I was working my way up to 454 Casull level performance in my 7.5-inch SRH. I have not reloaded anything heaver then 300gr in the 454 so far but the nice thing with Trail Boss is it would be very tough to double charge a case and you still end up with the equivalent of heavy 45 Colt loads.

Here is some load info:

http://www.imrpowder.com/data/handgun/trailboss.php

Anyways, worked well for me but I have to be honest I spent more time shooting my heavy 45 Colt loads then equivalent 454 Loads so I bet it total I shot no more then 100 rounds.
 

Marine24

Bearcat
Joined
Oct 8, 2010
Messages
74
Location
Monument, CO
Quarterbore: Appreciate the load. I have typically used H110 for my heavy 45 Colt loads and Titegroup for range fodder. I'm surprised at the velocity listed for the 360gr loads running from 615 to 699 fps.

My heavy 45 Colt loads have been more than adequate for my needs and haven't seen the need to deal with the recoil and muzzle blast of the full power 454 Casull loads when shot out of my Alaskan.

That said, being able to use 454 Casull brass has its advantages. No cylinder ring and expect case life will be better if I'm using reduced pressure loads.
 

Yosemite Sam

Hunter
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Mar 18, 2002
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Marine24, I just noticed your location. I lived outside of the Springs for 5 years back in the 90s and worked just south of Monument on Rockrimmon Blvd.

Howdy, neighbor. ;)

I lived up in Woodland Park, about 5 minutes from Rampart Res and Pike National Forest. Nice area.

-- Sam
 

Marine24

Bearcat
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Oct 8, 2010
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Monument, CO
Sam: That's God's country. If I could have talked my wife in to it, that is where I'd be living now. Desolate is how she described it, but who wouldn't like being able to hunt from your back porch (besides my wife).
 

Bucks Owin

Hunter
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Mar 22, 2004
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3,196
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51st state of Jefferson
Marine24 said:
Yosemite Sam said:
Also note that H110 is one of the few powders that usually has a "do not reduce below minimum" warning on the loads. Given the lower pressure in the larger case, I would be very careful using anywhere near the minimum for a .45 Colt load in the .454 case.

-- Sam

Sam: Agree with you. Wasn't my intent to use a 45 Colt recipe in a 454 Casull but noticed there were a couple of loads where the max load on a 45 Colt was the starting load for the 454 Casull.

Kinda blows some holes in the old nonsense that (non balloon head) .45 LC cases are "weak" huh? Wonder how Dick Casull and John Linebaugh managed to keep all their digits lo these many years messin' around with TRIPLEX loads (Dick) and approaching 60K CUP (John in early experiments) in that old frontier wardog huh? :wink: :D
 

rugerbh73

Bearcat
Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
47
Location
Louisiana
I've tried 10 grains of Trail boss with a 270 grain cast SWC in 454 brass. The load is over the published data. It gives just under 1000fps out of my alaskan. No signs of dangerous pressure. It should be a good low recoil deer load, in my opinion. Thanks to Jeff Quinn for trying it out first. I was wondering about a case full of TB in 454, but could not find any published data for it. I read about this load in a Gunblast article, and worked up to it.
 
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